Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-02

c2pltal Is ths proposed drainage oil the val
ley, by syndicate of Ohio capitalists For
several 3onths negotiations have been 60
ing on between the Bucyrus Ohio Con-
struction Company and three wealthy gen.
tlemen OF Cleveland, Messrs. Daniel P.
Eels, Henry C. Rouse and w. II. Harris.
Some time ago Mr.. Rouse came here and
held consultations with the Government
authorities of Mexico. President Diaz
and his cabinet were favorably disposed to
the scheme but it was necessary that leg
islative action be taken in the matter.
Having been duly considered by both
Houses Of Congress, the Government has
now ratified the contract, and on the 18th
instant, /; was duly signed, sealed and
delivered.
No wonder the citizens are excited.
After being agitated at frequent intervals
during the last four or five centuries, it
has come 70 the simple fact that the val
ley must be drained in some way, or the
great City Of Mexico cannot much longer
exist. But it is a gigantic undertaking,
which has been eagerly studied and va
riously planned By Aztecs, Spaniards,
whose attempts, after spending millions of
dollars, have all ANONYMOUSLY failed.
Governments, priests and private individ-
uals have lavished their money upon the
schemes Of engineers and scientists toward
the desired end-but as vet absolutely
nothing has been accomplished 1t must
be remembered that the valley OF Mexico
IS basin, with
SO oGTLET WHATEVER FOR THE WATER,
Surrounded by a mountain wall from 900
to 5000 feet high. Authentic history traces
the occupation of this basin bac; TO the
year zoo The City of Mexico was founded
upon a par. of the old bed of Lake Texcoco,
as early as 1927, and in all that time has
never been drained. At the time of the
Spanish conquest Gran Tenochtitlan, as
the capital vas then called, occupied
small island in the lake, connected with
the mainland by great causeways, COM
posed OF stone and earth, constructed
through the lake, primarily to prevent the
flooding Of the city by the overflow of the
Cuantitlan river. One causeway, connect
ing MeliOdia with the city, was seven miles
long another Cumming westward to
Ilacopan) was two miles in length the
third, running north, three miles-and all
were wide enough to permit ten men on
horseback 10 ride abreast. The circuit of
the city measured nine miles, and the num-
Der of houses was about 70,000-all literally
swarming with people. Moustrous dykes
kept the water out of the city, canals were
common n all parts of the town, and all
business of importance was conducted by
the aid Of boats. Through the principal
streets, which were wider and straighter
than now, canals were cut, leaving a broad
passage way for pedestrians on either side
After ali these centuries of constant oc-
cupancy, Texcoco has dwindled away to
comparative nothingness-but any where
within and around the old town water NAV
be struck at depth of only two or three
feet, proving that the ground is practically
SOAKED WITH SEWERAGE.
An the lakes within the basin are higher
than the city. except TeXcoco, which is two
and a half feet lower. The higher lakes
drain into the lower, and so does every
sewer of the city, causing frequent over
flows, which food the Capital sometimes to
the depth of several feet The constant
recurrence of long lines of green-scummed
bitches no doubt assist the cause above
mentioned in making the death rate higher
here than any where else in North America
averaging 500 per month to its popula-
ton of $4,000! Nothing but the rarified
condition Of the atmosphere at this alti-
tude q $50 feet above the sea- prevents it
from being the theater of frlghtful pest
Hence.
The plain fact is that Lake Texcoco IS
nothing more than the accumulated filth
of five hundred years. Its waters are so
putrid that only the lowest forms of life
can exist, and fishes are rotting on its
banks by thousands. Its pestilential odors,
waited by every breeze over the doomed
city ere making a vast charnel-house of
lovely Anahnae, which will soon become
literal valley of the dead, unless engin-
eering skill can save it. Every year adds
TO its accumulated rottenness, and sends
the deatb-rate up the scale.
But how to get the water out is the mo-
mentous INSTRUMENTATION by tunnel, by
huge siphon or by evaporation. The lat
ter scheme has been proved practically i'm
possible-and so in fact have the other two.
Let us look briefly at some of the plans of
the past, for this Oldest and most important
hydraulic work in the world has been
studied in every aspect by the wiseacres of
five centuries.
When the Spanaris arrived here. Just
sos years ago, they found that the drainage
question had already occupied the atten-
ton Ot u@rbaric nlonarcbs, who had made
great cuts through the valley. About the
yesr 1900 alter an enormous inundation, a
celebrated Spanish engineer, named En-
rique Msrtinez, proposed to open cut
from Lake Texcocc to Boredd Real, giving a
fall OF 1900 feet. but after q long consider
alton the plan was rejected, so says Hum
boldt, because it was believed, on the au-
thoritv OF the ancients, that current
should have q fall of at least one-halt
meter IN q hundred. The Vicerovs who
ruled AeSico during
THE sECoNr HALF or TIE SIXTEENTH CEN
TURY
CONTINUED the canal-work begun by the
earlier Aztccs under many difficulties, re-
sntiur 70 nothing but the abortive cut OF
Nochistongo-thr which the Mexican
Central railroad now runs. Up to the be
ginning of the seventeenth century over
six millions Of dollars had been sunk in
fruitless undertakings, and thousands OF
lives ha6 been sacrificed. This is not in
credible when we reflect that human life
was held cheap in those days. That dur.
ing the first years fifteen thousand Indians
worked necessarily on tie cut, and thai
afterwards, for one hundred years the work
was controlled by the Franciscan Monks
In 1929, disheartened by its non-success
and alarmed by the great inundstion oil
that year, twas proposed to abandon theold
site and build new city at the foot of the
mountains. What pity that the Span
iards did not carry out their wise resolve
for then the Mexican capital, in this same
historic valley, would have occupied ground
high enough to afford good drainage.
To come down TO more recent times, in
1867 President Juarez established system
of taxation IN the Federal District all the
proceeds of which were to be devoted tC
DRAINAGE. For several years the tax wa:
readily paid. as the plan then proposed
was declared easy for modern engineering
skill. and that a few years time would bt
sufficient for its accomplishment. Blu
alas After an expenditure of about foul
millions, without the slightest good result
the scheme was abandoned and the re
Inainder of the money used by the Govern
ment to suppress revolution.
In tS79the Mexican Government granted
a liberal concession for this work to ar
American company organized in Phila
delphis but after a few years the conces
sion was withdrawn, as the labors of tbs
COMPANY sere confined to wind work
and the Issuing of maps and circulars. II
1881 General Pacheco-afterwards the Min
lister Of Public Works-made contract TO
drainage with some leading Mexican citi
zens. In this concession the Government
bound itself 70 pay to the company which
might be organized an annual sum o
$500, coo, in monthly installments, during
. e wears This